Bursting the Christian Bubble

When He went ashore He saw a great crowd, and He had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And He began to teach them many things. Mark 6:34

 

I know that I live in a Christian bubble. Every once in a while it bothers me that I am out of touch with the world. It becomes obvious to me when I, who have not had TV for over 10 years,  hear the way words and sexual innuendo are thrown around on  prime time shows when I am in a hospital room or a doctor’s office and overhear it. When we lived in the City of Reading it seems that I saw more poverty, heard more bad language, and recognized the gift my Christianity is to me.  

Now, I live in a neighborhood that is just beginning to see some unemployment but they are largely middle class, educated, and, even though they might not be born-again Christians, they live by a values system that looks a lot like ours.  

This week our church extended an invitation to the children of the local homeless shelter for Vacation Bible School. I volunteered to be an extra set of hands in the van that is picking them up and transporting them from the shelter to the church. My eyes have been opened again to the sadness, the financial needs, and the spiritual poverty that many young children live in.  

I can remember my pediatrician asking me many years ago about how many words my toddler daughter was saying. I asked, “in the car or out of the car?” He laughed and said that when we tie down the arms and legs in a car seat something needs to move so most children move their mouths! These children from the shelter are the same in this regard. We buckle them in and all 7 of them start to talk.  

Last night I got to listen to a Rap song that the two seven year olds “sang” for me. It did not have any foul language but the suggestive lyrics were surprising coming out the mouths of such young children. One of these girls then told me that “jail is not a fun place to be.” I asked how she knew. She said she knew because that’s where her Dad is. She showed me her two wrists crossed behind her back and described the “cops taking him away like this for doin’ nothin’ at all but sittin’ on the neighbors porch.” At seven, she had seen her dad handcuffed and taken away in a “cop car.”  

Another little boy explained to me on the way back to the shelter that he wanted a gun so he could shoot the cops. He is four years old. I asked him if the police weren’t people who we could call when we needed help and that we should try to respect. He told me “no” but had little more to offer.  

The four year old on the other side of me was begging for her “blankie” as we got into the van, which, of course, we did not have. I apologized and put my hand on her leg. She leaned over the edge of her car seat, wrapped her arm through mine, put her thumb in her mouth, and proceeded to go to sleep. Her mother met the van that was holding three of her children but was less than sympathetic that the little one had been sleeping. She was on the phone and only got off when I approached her to invite her to the closing program on Friday (which she did come to).

When your top priority in life is a roof over your head and food for the stomach, worrying about a small child’s sleep moves to low on the list. I remember that from my social work days. More importantly, I remembered that Jesus had compassion, that He saw people as sheep without a Shepherd. This is what these people are – sheep without a Shepherd. Our hope is that these children will place their faith in Jesus Christ, not guns or the social service system. I was reminded as I prayed for these kids that God can take the mess they live in and He can give them a new heart to want something different and a new life that He will Shepherd them through.  

I am so grateful to God for putting me in this van. I know that I need to be reminded that my world, my neighborhood, is not what an awful lot of people live in. They are caught in a cycle, some of abuse, some of addiction, and some of both. If, for one night, I can be the security blanket, I pray that it gives me an opportunity to tell these children who holds the real Security in this life.  

I worry that in my Christian Bubble I will get comfortable and forget the poor. It’s important to remember that many are spiritually poor even if they live in nicer neighborhoods. I am reminded not to get complacent and disregard the orphan or the fatherless. This would not please my heavenly Father. “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.” James 1:27 

There is a reason for everything God calls us to do. The request for help with transporting these children was made from the pulpit last Sunday and that still small voice inside of me let me know it was my job. I am grateful to have my Christian Bubble of comfort burst and my eyes opened to the needs around me. I wonder what more God will have me do for these children and others that I seemed to have forgotten about.